Bōnen no Xamdou – Episode 23

The episode was quite sad and featured distinct visual character, but I was not very satisfied with the writing. It seems that they tried to give some screen time for too many sides in one episode.

Contrast this with Tojiro’s line in Episode 21

Emotion-based coping is the best when we don’t have control over the situation

Nakiami: “As a Tamayobi, everyone expected that I would pass Lady Sannova’s ritual purification. It was when I went to the town of Biguzen to collect Hiruko.”

“It was a moonlit night after an air raid, silent in curling blackness and smoke. My footsteps were the only heartbeat remaining amidst the crumbling residences.”

Nakiami: “Don’t be afraid, we’ll just return her to the flow of Ruikon. Your mama will be very happy there.” Kobako: “But if you do, I’ll be… all alone forever.”

Nakiami: “All alone, forever,” those words stayed with me.

Haru suddenly questions her path and purpose… This is the scene that I didn’t like the most in the episode because it was way too short for such an important moment.

Haru: “I am always running after Akiyuki. But I am not strong alike Akiyuki. I can’t just plow blindly forward, all I wanted was to be with you, Akiyuki.”

Note the transition. While Haru and Akiyuki are arguing, Ishuu and Raigyo understand each other without words and run in unison.

It might be that Rado is the Emperor…

“Rado was a good man, unlike you. He read those poetry volumes of his, looking so sad. He said he really wanted to be a poet. That he’d carve out a revolution in bullets, to be written about forever. But it was those bullets that carved out his spirit.”

My favorite scene among the many great ones was seeing how Nakiami left her religious order to make sure Kobako wouldn’t be alone. I would have thought Nakiami was heartless if she didn’t do something but also by doing something for Kobako, Nakiami has to leave her old life behind.

They could have easily spread this episode out over two because so many scenes felt truncated. What’s been bothering my sister and I when we watch this is that we still don’t fully know about the complex political situations. For example, where was Raigyo and the Captain fighting and why was the death of Emperor-in-a-bottle such an important goal? Maybe I’m forgetting things about this show because I’m watching too much anime right now :).

It was still a very good episode and I can’t wait to watch the next one.

Yes, it was a great scene symbolically and visually. Nakiami decided to take her own path rather than blindly following orders: she plots the course of the ship, not the other way around.

The Emperor awakens only once every thousand of years. It is the “void”, “great sadness personified”. Perhaps, the show does not reveal all the details about political situation because the focus is on the characters and their interactions. I do hope that the next few episodes will clarify the situation. In the last few episodes quite a high volume of information was disclosed and explained, but not all aspects are clear.